Fear of the Unknown
by Heletherel
Summary: Outlast/Inuyasha The Walrider has new power: the ability to drain both demonic and holy energy into itself. Inuyasha and friends, stripped of power, are forced to venture to the problem's source: past the well to Mount Massive Asylum. Kagome films the entire journey. Can Inuyasha outsmart Chris Walker? Can Miroku and Sango outdo Father Martin? And can Sesshomaru outlast Dr. Trager?
1. Chapter 1

Kagome sat against the side of the wooden bone-eater's well, smiling into the soft sunset as she watched Miroku and Sango's twin children playing tag in the deep expanse of the forest before her. They would be ten this coming year. Her own child, a girl of six that she and Inuyasha had named Kayoko, was no doubt nearby on some sort of adventure with her restless father. How quickly those years were going by. Everyone had been caught up in routine ever since the Shikon-no-tama had been purified and Naraku destroyed. Still, Kagome appreciated the peace. It was beneficial for all of them; that was for sure. The only one who seemed to have preferred their days of conflict and battle was, of all people, Rin. At 13, she was honing her talent for sword-fighting, and had already defended the village against multiple assaults from lesser demons, alongside Inuyasha, of course. She loved to show off her skills, especially when Sesshomaru paid his occasional visits. Kagome supposed that Rin's violent nature was natural; the girl had been reborn through Tenseiga, awakening to find herself covered in blood, with a half dead daiyoukai to support her. At an early age, all the superior figures in her life were either killers or the killed. It was obvious that Rin had set her sights on being a killer as opposed to the contrary.

Kagome's train of thought was interrupted by a strong feeling that pulsed from deep within her consciousness. For a moment, it was as if she was still struggling to locate Shikon-no-tama shards, but then she remembered that that chapter in her life had been completed. The Shikon Jewel was no more.

Then what was this dark feeling?

"It's getting dark, kids," Kagome called to the twins. "Go back to the village with Kaede." They immediately complied, innocently waving goodbye as they ran through the woods.

Now alone and free of distraction, Kagome strained her inner senses and felt the source of the evil power more clearly. It was coming from beyond the bone-eater's well! Lunging to her feet, she whirled around and looked to the bottom of that so-familiar hole. The power was coming from her world; her time. It felt…far away. _Outside_ of the well, outside of her home, across the _ocean_ from Japan. It was far, far away, but it was strong. A mountain in… America? Mexico? No, it had to be America. Deep under one of the vast, snow-capped rocky mountains….

There was a rush of wind from beside her and suddenly, the silver-haired daiyoukai by the name of Sesshomaru skidded to a halt at the edge of a well. His golden eyes locked onto hers, then fell to the darkness at the bottom of the pit.

"Sesshomaru-"

"What is that disgusting stench?" He hissed as a clawed hand dug into the wooden frame of the well. Kagome watched his bleach-white nails, simply watched as they seemed to lose their point.

And watched as they turned blunt and harmless as a human's.

Kagome looked up to Sesshomaru's face to find that he'd completely lost his demonic markings and the golden sheen in his eyes. Even his hair was charcoal black. Slowly, he raised his plain, human hands before his eyes, realizing the sheer gravity of what had just occurred. Raking his fingers through his blackened forelocks to hold them up and check their color, his disbelief was further shattered, replaced by a harsh reality. Lastly, he grabbed for his Bakusaiga, most likely to unsheathe it and commit a thorough, self-pitiless sepukku on the spot, but found that it, along with all else that marked him as a demon, had completely disintegrated.

And then Kagome realized that she too had been changed. As if spiritually blinded, she could no longer sense that dark power that she knew was still there.

"…What…?" The miko held a palm to her forehead, then turned to exchange a stare with the equally surprised former-daiyoukai.

"Kagome!" Inuyasha's voice rang from the forest. "Something's wrong!"

In a burst of leaves, the hanyou sprinted into the clearing with a wide-eyed Kayoko on his back. Tetsusaiga, like the Tenseiga had Bakusaiga, had vanished from his side, and just like Sesshomaru, Inuyasha had also been transformed into a human. His hair hung black and his claws and ears had been replaced with human versions. It was as if tonight the moon was new; however, it was full.

"Could you feel it, too?" Kagome asked, pointing to the well. "Something evil lies beyond the well. I can't sense it anymore."

"I could smell something, too…" Inuyasha was suddenly distracted by the sight of his _human_ brother. His jaw relaxed in disbelief and, with sudden hysteria, he barely stifled an explosive laugh. "Is that…_you_, Sesshomaru?"

The daiyoukai only rolled his eyes in response. "It seems that there is a curse upon us all," he observed, glancing curiously at the well.

Again, more figures crashed into the clearing. It was Miroku the monk, followed closely by Sango and Kirara…or at least what should have been Kirara. In the great cat demon's place was a little black and white kitten, being cradled in Sango's arms.

"I was trying to undo the disease that plagues an old tree," Miroku explained, "and then this happened. My sacred sutras seem to have completely lost their effect."

"Kirara's been affected, too, obviously," Sango added. "Not to mention, I think my Hiraikotsu has lost all of its demonic energy. It doesn't feel much more useful than a club."

"What the hell is going on?" Frustrated, Inuyasha turned to Kagome. "We've got to get through that well and get to the bottom of this. I could smell something bad out there, I know I did! Is there any way we can pass through without the Shikon-no-tama?"

"I don't know…" Kagome replied, turning away as she began to think of a plan. "…Maybe…here, grab onto my hand. I can get my bike back and forth this way; maybe it will work with a person."

The moment Inuyasha grabbed onto Kagome's hand, Sango grabbed onto his.

"I'm going with you," she insisted. "I might be able to help."

"You're sure?" Inuyasha asked.

Sango grinned. "Of course. It's about time I visited this alternate world. I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Then I'll be coming, too," Miroku declared, clasping his hand in Sango's. "I wouldn't want to miss out."

"And while you dawdle in awe of this 'land beyond the well,' I'll slay whatever beast has dared to steal our power by myself," Sesshomaru stated with a confident, almost arrogant gleam in his brown human's eyes as he grabbed Miroku by the wrist.

Kagome smirked amusedly as she watched the chain grow, then finally announced, "All set, gang? We'd better get going if we want to stop that aura."

Inuyasha was just beginning to nod when a voice called out from the forest.

"I'm coming, too."

And from the evening shadows stepped the thirteen-year-old Rin, with her newest, freshly-forged katana sheathed and slung across her back.

"Rin, are you serious?" Kagome asked. Despite how Rin had changed, Kagome still saw her as the innocent little girl, just a bystander to the violence that had once plagued them. She felt it wrong to have Rin, still young, involved in such conflict yet again.

"I overheard everything. Now I want to help. I have the skill to do so. That wasn't taken away."

Two silver flashes magnified the evening light. Kagome's eyes were momentarily blinded, but when they refocused they found that Rin's katana had been unsheathed and now rested in her outstretched hand.

And then two great branches from the trees on either side of her thudded to the forest floor, cut with perfectly vertical strikes.

"That reperesents the _arms_ of whatever vile creature lies on the other side of that well. Whatever it is that took your powers, it obviously failed to take mine." With an arrogance that Inuyasha immediately recognized as his half-brother's, Rin smirked deviously, plucking a leaf from one of the mutilated trees to wipe its sap from her blade. Only Sesshomaru smirked back; discreetly, but perceptible. The smirk never left as Rin walked forward with even, elegant strides, sheathing the katana as her free hand met with Sesshomaru's.

"You'll keep her out of trouble, Sesshomaru?" Kagome asked.

The daiyoukai nodded. "Of course."

"Then lets go!" Inuyasha exclaimed. And with that, the six of them plunged in a great chain down the bone-eater's well.


	2. Chapter 2

"This is it, without question. Even in this disgraceful state, I can sense such great evil with ease."

Sesshomaru looked up with cold disdain at the characteristic twin peaks of Colorado's Mount Massive Asylum, scanning the old windows and sheer walls for any possible means of entry. Inuyasha had already run ahead to try the front doors. They had been locked.

"Maybe we should use that scaffolding on the left wing to climb up," Sango suggested. The others nodded in approval.

"It looks like there's an open window on the second floor that we could reach from there," Inuyasha observed. Undaunted, he climbed onto the rickety wooden planks and vaulted up to ledge above which the window sat open.

"The lights are on; I'm going in," he called. Hoisting himself over the windowsill, he vanished from sight within the dim-lit fortress that was Mount Massive Asylum. Kagome was next to make the climb, receiving a bit of help from Sango, who was right on her heels. After them came Miroku, keeping sure not to lose sight of his wife. Then Rin eagerly joined them, and lastly, Sesshomaru followed her, allowing himself one last look at the great expanse of dark, mountainous terrain before entering the cursed structure, swallowed up along with the others. He was the only one who hesitated, and yet….

Deep down, they all knew that they might never come back out.

"This place has seen better days," Inuyasha observed, taking in the bloodstained walls, upset furniture and broken fixtures. As his eyes adjusted to the stark lighting, he made out a crumpled figure in the far corner, obscured in the shadow of an old chair. Something beside it was glowing, ever so faintly.

"What's that?" Cautiously, Kagome crept towards it. Then a stomach-turning odor floored her senses and she stepped away. "…Disgusting!" she gasped. "I think it's a dead body."

"But what's that object next to it?" Inuyasha wondered out loud, slinking forward to reach for the glowing item. Upon lifiting it into proper view, Kagome recognized its shape.

"Oh! That's a video camera," she explained. "…It's still recording. God, I don't even want to know what it taped. The poor person who used it obviously didn't have a good day."

"It's a…what?" Inuyasha muttered, completely lost as to what this modern day technology was. Shrugging, he handed it to his wife, who held it to eye level and began to tinker with it.

"It has night vision!" She exclaimed excitedly, turning it on. "I'm definitely holding on to this. It may prove to be of use for us."

And that wasn't the only reason Kagome chose to hold on to the camera. She was sure that whatever had gone down in this desolate place was sinister. In her world, there was a real justice system, one that she wanted to both follow and enforce. Gathering proof of whatever had happened here was Kagome's goal.

Kagome was startled upon hearing a harsh bang as Rin kicked open an old wooden door on the far wall.

"The smell came from under the mountain, right, Sesshomaru?" She asked, looking back at her friend.

"At the very base," he confirmed. "All we have to do is find a way down."

Smiling with confidence despite the horrific surroundings, Rin led the way out of the room. Camera in hand, Kagome was right behind her. The rest followed; again Sesshomaru brought up the rear. He found it easier to focus when he had a bit of space between himself and the others. And even though he was last, the strange feeling that someone else was behind him still lingered. If only he had his proper sense of smell, he would know for sure.

"Lets try this door," Rin suggested, reaching a set of glass automatic doors at the end of the hallway. Grabbing the edge, she was surprised to see the door open with a sudden whoosh by itself.

"It's automatic," Kagome explained as the group began walking through. Just as Sesshomaru was about to join them on the other side, a metal door shut in the glass one's place with a clang and a spray of sparks before completely losing power. Instinctively, he hissed at the sudden action, though with a human voice it came out soft and not nearly as threatening as usual. He'd been completely separated from the rest of the group.

"Sesshomaru-sama?" He heard Rin call. Her voice was muffled through the thick door.

"I'm still here. Just fell too far behind." The former daiyoukai shook his head at his own pathetically human reflexes.

"I think we're trapped in here," Miroku's voice called, barely audible.

"Can we break through this window? I don't think so…" Kagome murmured from behind the metal.

"Look up here," Sango's voice called after a moment of worried silence. "That vent looks loose. Let's try to pry it open and climb through."

"We'll try to meet up with you when we can, Sesshomaru-sama," Rin assured amid the muffled clangs of the vent being unlatched. And that was the last that Sesshomaru heard from beyond the door.

Sighing, the former daiyoukai turned away. Then his pupils dilated in shock as he realized what had been behind him all along.

A black ghost flitted across the blood-stained hallway and was lost in an instant behind a metal gate.

**So, I'm sure you guys figured out that the Walrider is behind all of this. However, you won't be seeing it again for a while. Next, we go to Sango.**

**Please review! Tell me which Inuyasha character you want to see more of, or what Outlast villains you want incorporated in the fic. I'd really appreciate it. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

"This vent's going to collapse if we all go through it together," Sango warned as she crawled her way through the metal tunnel, trying not to scrape her boomerang against the sides. "We should pass through one at a time."

"Okay, but I'm going next," Rin's echoing voice declared from the chamber below. Sango's responding sigh was augmented by her metallic surroundings. If only Rin had been locked out along with Sesshomaru. Then the violent pair could go about their business in their own reckless style. To be perfectly honest, Sango was a bit intimidated by the bloodthirsty young woman that the kind and innocent Rin had become.

Sango was startled upon hearing a noise from the other end of the vent. A distinct moan had called out from below, low enough to have been a man's, yet shrill enough to have been an animal's.

"Hello?" Sango called suspiciously. She waited through one extra moment of silence before continuing her crawl through the vent, wary, but without fear.

At last she reached an open panel of the vent which she could easily slide through and emerge into another room. But after hearing that moan, Sango hesitated. Looking through the opening, she could see only a dimly lit tile floor, criss-crossed with shadows of all sorts. One of those shadows looked distinctly humanoid.

With silent grace, Sango bent her head down past the open panel to scope out the room from the safety of the metal passageway. The suspicious shadow was now more clearly in view. She was just beginning to see the figure who casted it.

"Sango?"

Miroku's voice called hollowly through the vent.

Sango pulled away from the opening, twisting around to find her husband's face peering up at her from the other end of the little tunnel.

"Sh!" she hushed as quietly as possible. "Someone's down there."

Miroku's eyes went wide. Her words had obviously made him nervous.

"Don't worry. I'll be careful," she assured him before returning to her business, craning her neck further out from the metal's edge to get a better look. As expected, the figure wore modern garb that was completely alien to her; however, the most peculiar detail were the sleeves of its jacket. They were buckled in an "X" across its body, effectively pinning its arms, which appeared to be trembling slightly.

"Hello?" Sango called, her voice breaking a whisper only at the second syllable.

The figure jerked with surprise and began to back away. Now Sango could see only its hunching shadow.

Deeming the person unthreatening, Sango turned back to call to her friends. "I'm going down. Follow me," she instructed. Then she dived soundlessly to the tile floor with an elegant front flip. As she stood, she simultaneously turned to face the figure, boomerang bone in hand.

"Who are you?"

The person gave no reply. He probably didn't know a word of old-fashioned Japanese, anyway. And even if he did, his face was so horrifically disfigured that he may have lost the ability to speak completely. Sango was appalled by the half-human appearance of this cowering shadow that she could only guess had once been a man.

There was a solid thump as Rin landed on the ground behind Sango, katana at the ready. "What is that thing?" she asked with an expression of disgust.

"I don't know," Sango replied without letting her eyes leave the figure, which was beginning to gurgle and growl in what might be called aggression. Despite the threatening noises, Sango stepped towards it.

"Do you know of the force that drained us of our power?" The demon slayer inquired, now barely two feet away from the shaking form.

Another thump, slightly more muffled, sounded from behind. "Careful, Sango," Miroku called softly from his new place beside Rin.

"I know," Sango replied, sparing a glance to the side. It was the perfect opportunity for the being before her to strike.

It lunged forward in a single staggering step, getting Sango's attention and causing her to recoil at the crucial moment in which it attempted to bite out her throat. Instead, its deformed jaws found themselves locked around the armor plate on her right elbow. Sango had defended herself just in time.

Using calculated swiftness, the demon slayer simultaneously leapt back and pushed her attacker against the opposite wall with a strong kick for momentum. No sooner had the figure's back slammed against the off-white plaster than Rin's katana found its neck, halving it instantaneously and spraying the already bloodstained wall with an even brighter crimson.

"That was too close. Keep your guard up," the girl advised her elder warrior as she wiped off her blade on the headless figure's jacket. Mutely, Sango nodded. She didn't really care about Rin's arrogant words. She was mostly just shocked; that moment had been the first in many years in which she'd felt such a level of-unprofessional-panic and fear. She could already feel this place changing her. Breathing deeply, she turned away.

She had just noticed the open door by the opposite corner of the room when she also noticed the black specter just beyond it. Before she could even do anything more than gasp, a burst of energy flooded the room, light and sound and heat all in one, and shattered the opposite wall. Sango felt as if it had nearly shattered her bones and brain along with it. But she could still feel herself capapult backewards and begin falling. Further and further. With sudden horror, she realized that each moment of freefall thinned her chances of survival.


	4. Chapter 4

**This chapter is kind of just two small chapters put together. Don't worry if you find this one to be kind of boring. That will not last long. :)**

**Review or I will kill off one of the Inuyasha characters. Mwahahaha!**

"What was that?" Kagome gasped upon hearing the roar from below the vent. She had just begun crawling through it, and hadn't been in the room in time for that fateful explosion.

"Is everything alright, Kagome?" Inuyasha called from behind as he climbed after her.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she assured. "But I don't know if I can say the same for the others. Something happened down there."

Warily, she reached the opening at the end of the vent and peered through to find the shattered, bloody remains of what had once been the tile-floored room. Half of the floor and two of the walls had been completely blown away. And their friends were nowhere to be seen.

"They're gone!" Kagome explained as Inuyasha crawled up beside her to see the destrucition for himself. Below the destroyed floor was a lower story, but the lighting up here was bad enough to make it impossible to see the bottom with human eyes. "We've got to get down there."

Slowly, with some help from her husband, Kagome lowered herself onto a remaining patch of the floor that jutted from the wall. It began to crumble under her weight, and she flinched back, barely managing to step onto stable ground at the far corner of the room before the tiles plummeted to the darkness below. Though there was nothing to land on directly beneath him anymore, Inuyasha still managed to swing to safety beside his wife using the frame of the vent as he descended.

"Let's go through this doorway," Kagome suggested, motioning to the opening through which Sango had seen the specter only moments before. It had vanished since then. The former hanyou followed her through it and the two of them emerged into a long, equally dim lit hallway, smeared and splattered with blood from various past conflicts.

"God, this place gives me the creeps," Kagome muttered as she began walking for the metal gate halfway down the hall. Beyond it, she could see a flight of stairs, leading down. But upon reaching the door and attempting to pull it open, she realized that it was locked.

"Damn. We might have managed to find them down there."

"Lets try the other end of the hall," Inuyasha encouraged.

Kagome turned around to find that the hallway had been almost completely barricaded thirty feet down. Metal shelves and bed frames were piled up haphazardly against the walls, leaving just enough room to slide through. Beyond it, Kagome could see nothing but deepening shadows and, beyond that, darkness.

Kagome walked to the barricade and slid through, camera in one hand and bow in the other. She reached the other side with only a few scratches from the sharp metal edges and immediately turned on the camera's night vision, quickly realizing that its battery was only half full. She began to walk onward, scoping out an open doorway not more than ten feet away.

"Little pig."

Confused, Kagome turned around to locate the source of the deep, growling voice that had just whispered those words. She had turned just in time to witness a silhouetted, hulking figure grab her husband by the sleeve of his fire-rat fur robe and wrench out from his place halfway through the barricade.

"Inuyasha!"

Dropping the camera, Kagome ripped an arrow from her quiver and drew it along her bow, aiming through the opening as she watched the former hanyou grapple with and finally kick free of the half-human abomination that had attacked him. There was now just enough space between the two. Just enough space for Kagome to deem it safe to open fire.

Her arrow was pulled back to its absolute full extent and immediately let go. It missed the target's head, but pierced deep into its shoulder with searing force. To Kagome's dismay, she realized that the holy energy that once flowed effortlessly from herself to her arrows had been cut off, along with the rest of her power. If she was at her usual level, the monster would have been instantly vaporized in a powerful exorcism. Instead he only roared, more out of anger than pain, giving Inuyasha just enough time to run back towards the metal gate. With surprising speed, his enemy recovered and began to pursue him with slow but massive strides.

"Go, Kagome!" Inuyasha called over his shoulder as he ripped open a wooden door at the side of the hall. "I'll find a way to meet back up with you!"

Then he darted past the door, slammed it behind him, and was gone.

"Inuyasha…" Kagome could only watch, horrified, as the barely humanoid goliath began to bash against the locked door with determined force. Frustrated, it momentarily stopped, then turned and suddenly locked its beady eyes onto Kagome's.

At that moment, Kagome knew that she had to run, too.

Whirling around, she scooped up her camera and held it up to the darkness beyond, sprinting into the unknown. Terrified and alone.

Sango awoke from the blackness that had been her only sense to find herself alive and, to her surprise, relatively comfortable. The sensation caused the blackness in her mind to fade to gray and then slowly take the form of the shapes around her. She was slowly opening her eyes.

The first thing she distinctly saw was her own hand, entangled in her long brown hair, slumped in front of her face. Past that was the edge of a thin mattress on which she realized she was lying on her side. Carefully, she rolled onto her back, looking up to find a large fluorescent light beaming down on her from the gray concrete ceiling. Gray, padded walls with red markings surrounded her.

Something darker than all the gray and red was standing in the far corner.

Panicked by this unknown presence, Sango sat up and her whole body went rigid as a soldier's. Her eyes immediately focused on the anomaly in the corner. It was a man. For a moment, she was given the hope that it was Miroku. But the hope was shattered when she saw his face. Though more human like than the person that had attacked her, his eyes were glassy and wide with madness, and his drooping, pasty face was twisted into an eerie smile.

"You've awoken quicker than I expected," he spoke in breathy English, completely unintelligible to Sango. "How do feel? I heard a blast from above and saw you fall. It is without doubt that God purposefully placed you here to aid me in my quest."

"E~tsu?" Sango mumbled in confusion. Tense with distrust, her eyes scanned the padded cell for her boomerang bone. She finally saw it on the ground; it had been slid halfway under the bed. Before she could reach for it, the stranger stepped towards her and offered a pale hand, to help her to her feet. Gingerly, she accepted it and slowly rose off the bed, scooping up the tassel of her boomerang bone in her free hand.

"You seem strong," the man observed with an almost imperceptible tilt of his bald head. "Exactly what I need."

Again Sango regarded him with utter confusion. "What are you saying?" She asked in bewildered Japanese.

"Oh! I see, now…." At last the man recognized the source of her confusion. Speaking in surprising fluent Japanese, he explained, "I know your language well from my earlier years spent abroad. I'll do my best to…get used to speaking it again. Now, as I was saying, how do you feel? Not too bad, I hope?"

"…I'll be fine." Sango replied with wide eyes. "But, who are you? What's wrong with this place?"

"My name is Martin Archimbaud. And you are?"

"…Sango of the demon slayers." Proudly, Sango inclined her head, widened her stance and jerked her boomerang bone up to shoulder height.

"Demon slayers?"


	5. Chapter 5

Fast as a housecat, Kagome scrambled through the open doorway and slammed it shut behind her. Scanning the dark surroundings with her night vision camera, she found herself standing in front of a narrow wooden stairwell. She immediately began to descend it. If Inuyasha was going to meet up with her, chances are he would try to do so at the base of the mountain, where they had sensed the source of the evil aura.

As she turned down the landing, she noticed another metal gate at the half-illuminated end of the next flight of stairs. Slumped face first against it was a blood-soaked copse; its stiff fingers still curled tightly around the metal bars, as if it had wanted desperately to get through. A thin, steel water pipe had been shoved through the bars and completely impaled through the corpse's head, soaked in blood from end to end. As Kagome crept further down the stairs to investigate, she noted one last disturbing detail before passing by. Clamped between the corpse's rigid jaws was a torn scrap of white silk, stained red.

Could it have been Sesshomaru that killed that man?

As Kagome turned her camera down the next flight of stairs, in utter horror she counted a gorey trail of five more corpses, even more horribly slaughtered than the first. One lay face up on the rickety wooden stairs with a caved in skull, corresponding with a blood soaked crack on the concrete wall. There was blood on its fingernails. Another sat half upright against the banister with a pair of shears in its hand that had been forcefully shoved into its own windpipe. At the next landing, another corpse could be seen with a pipe like the first stuck at a downward angle through its abdomen, pinning it to the far wall.

_Only Sesshomaru could have done all this without a proper weapon, _Kagome realized as she scoped out the carnage with her recording camera in hand. For a moment she hesitated, looking back up to the metal gate against which the first corpse had collapsed. If she could get through there, she may be able to regroup with Sesshomaru. But after a moment of thought, Kagome decided against trying. She would continue to go down in hopes of finding Inuyasha. Sesshomaru could surely manage on his own, it seemed.

Kagome stopped stiffly in her blood-smeared tracks upon hearing a growl from farther down the stairwell. Looking to the bottom of the current flight she stood at, her wide, brown eyes focused on a curled up figure in such darkness that she could only barely see it using the camera's night vision. Its shape was human.

"Who are you?" She called in hesitant English, remembering her old high-school lessons.

Suddenly, the figure straightened and lunged to its feet, looking up at her with eyes that gleamed terrifyingly through the camera's screen. Kagome jumped back.

"Don't come any closer!" She warned. It was all coming back to her.

The man looked up at her with confusion on his deformed face. With one hand he held his opposite arm, which appeared to be bruised and most likely broken, judging by its unnatural angle halfway past the elbow. Kagome wondered if he'd been pushed down the stairs.

Suddenly, he opened his mutated jaws and called, "Where is he?"

"What do you mean?" Kagome asked, beginning to back further away.

"Tell me!" He roared, and charged at her.

Shock and panic. These twin emotions consumed Kagome's mind. Just as the stranger was about to snatch onto her blouse, she whirled around and dashed back up the blood-slickened stairs, nearly slipping multiple times in a way that only augmented the amount of adrenaline pulsing through her jarred system. Her camera only recorded brief flashes of light and dark as the arm it was held in flailed back and forth. Kagome felt herself slowly putting distance between herself and her pursuer, but as she dodged the trail of bodies further up the stairs and swerved past the metal gate, she realized that she was being forced to backtrack and might have even more difficulty finding Inuyasha. She began to run past the doorway through which she'd come in, but suddenly she was jerked to a stop and realized that her blouse had caught on one of the rusted hinges. Her heart boomed in her chest as she whirled around and ripped the tattered edge of the blouse from the metal. She was about to continue on her way when, in a final mad lunge, her followed caught up with her and seized her by the arms, yelling something so shrill and slurred that she couldn't possibly understand it. Kagome tried to shake free but was only rewarded with the sensation of the monster's fingernails sinking into her skin. With greater force, powered by adrenaline, she pulled back with both arms and then quickly reversed her motion, bashing her attacker against the wall beside the doorway. It was just enough of a shock for him to loosen his grip. Seizing her chance, Kagome finished the struggle with a rib-cracking kick to the creature's torso. He completely let go and fell with his back against the wall, but was already beginning to recover before Kagome even turned away. Terrified, she chose to continue ascending the stairs rather than try to squeeze through that little barricade with a madman hot on her heels. Nearly blind in such darkness, she plunged on.

She had cleared three more flights of stairs when she spotted a possible means of escape: an old vent hung open, about six feet above the steps on the concrete wall. It was more than big enough for her to fit through. Judging the space between her and her pursuer to be large enough to trick him, she dove through the vent and shut it behind her. To her relief, he ran right past her new hiding space with the belief that she was still running up the stairs.

"That was really close," she quietly exhaled, shaking as she sat back on her heels. Slowly, she turned around in the vent to find only darkness beyond. She attempted to remedy the problem with her camera, but found that the battery had run out, rendering it practically useless for now. Tucking it into her pocket, Kagome felt her way forward at a crouch. Suddenly, her fingers curled around the edge of a metal panel and she realized that the vent dropped down a few feet before continuing on. Upon lowering herself down off the little ledge, she placed her bare hand on the floor of the tunnel to find it immediately half-soaked in an eerily warm substance, slightly thicker than water. Smoothing it between her fingers, her stomach turned as she realized it was most likely blood. Steadfast, she continued forward on bloodstained hands and knees, eyes fixed on a dim light shining through an open panel not more than twenty feet away.

Kagome slid her hand along the slick metal floor of the vent and suddenly pulled it back with a sharp gasp. Her fingers had brushed against a tangle of long, blood-soaked hair.

_Is that another dead body?_

Trying not to tremble, Kagome reached a bit further and felt her palm brush against the back of a human head. Daring to feel further, her fingers passed over a fold of silk-

_Silk?_

It was torn at the edge. As Kagome began to pull her hand away, her wrist was caught on something unexpected. It was cold, metallic; soaked in blood. Her hand curled around it far too easily and she realized that it was the contoured handle of a knife. But as she felt for the blade, her hand connected only with the silk cloth and blood-smeared skin of the person it had stabbed. She could feel their ribs through the silk. The knife had struck right between them.

"Kagome-…imoto…?"

It was Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru had just spoken her name in his alluring half-hiss of a voice. Sesshomaru had just sighed in that detached way of his. Sesshomaru had just gone silent as if the life had been wrenched from his all-too-human body.

"Sesshomaru-oniisan?" Kagome called, grabbing onto his bare shoulder with a desperate hand.

"Sesshomaru…were you hurt?"

He no longer made a sound.

"Sesshomaru," Kagome gasped, shaking her head in blank, slack-jawed denial. "Sesshomaru wh…wake _up_!"

**Cliffhanger! lol I'm so evil :3**

**Next chapter will be with Inuyasha (and possibly Miroku). Stay tuned, you lazy non-reviewers. :)**


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